April 4, 2012

A political anthropologist accuses the West of de-democratizing the Middle East “because seldom did its power elites see the region as a people with diverse, dynamic social-cultural texture instead of a repository of multiple resources and strategic interests. Hence their prime aim was to keep the Middle East ‘stable’ and ‘manageable'”:

Muslim Brotherhood finds Egypt’s liberals refuse their offer of more seats on the constitution writing panel in wake of the group’s reneging on their promise not to run a candidate for president and in the midst of a U.S. goodwill tour:

“Those arrested have a similar profile to Mohamed Merah,” say the French police. “They are isolated individuals, who are self-radicalized … [and] tracked on Islamist forums expressing extreme views and said they were preparing to travel to areas including Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Sahel belt to wage jihad (holy war):

“[T]here is a real danger that Western analysts will mistakenly identify north Nigeria’s conservative Islam with Boko Haram’s violent ideology, instead of seeing the extremists for who they are: violent groups espousing fringe views that most Nigerian Muslims reject”:

“We are counting on Tunisian and foreign businessmen to help boost growth and reduce unemployment,” he added. He also said the government was hoping Tunisians would seek work abroad in Europe, the Gulf and neighbouring Libya to help bring down unemployment and boost growth at home: